Artist Statement
“This Prevent Police Boredom print is an updated version of my first "art" screen print (a print on paper rather than just on a t-shirt) from 1989. Long before I was arrested for street art, I was being hassled and arrested by the cops for skateboarding. I was inspired by the skateboard culture maxim of "question authority" and Black Flag's song "Police Story" and created this image of a kid holding a skateboard being grabbed by a cop. I thought this would be a great image to update for the #DIY skateboard show at Subliminal Projects because the first versions I made of Prevent Police Boredom
About This Print
Prevent Police Boredom (First Edition) is a 2018 Shepard Fairey screenprint, 18 x 24 inches on white Speckle Tone paper, published by Obey Giant. It is signed and numbered in an edition of 450, released at $50. The image, of a kid holding a skateboard being grabbed by a cop, is an updated version of Fairey's first art screenprint from 1989. He created it for the DIY skateboard show at Subliminal Projects, drawing on skate culture's question-authority ethos and Black Flag's Police Story. The work fuses OBEY iconography with punk and skateboard counterculture in his signature graphic style.
Market Context
Estimated market value: 129.0. Observed range 100.0–450.0. Latest recorded sale: 2025-12-04. Value is the median of recorded public sales (>= $100); low-high shows the observed sale range.